Proportion of Revenue retained by the Province. Grant-in-aid of expenditure from Govt. of India. Proportion of Revenue retained by the Province. Grant-in-aid of expenditure from Govt. of India. Proportion of Revenue retained by the Province. Grant-in-aid of expendi ture from Govt. of India. Proportion of Revenue retained by the Province. Grant-in-aid of expenditure from Govt. of India. Proportion of Revenue retained by the Province. Grant-in-aid of expendi ture from Govt. of India. Proportion of Revenue retained by the Province. Grant-in-aid of expendi by the reduction of the Excise duty on issues of rum to troops from distilleries '. § 11. The second class of deductions in favour of the province are far more important. From time to time the Government of India, finding it has revenues to spare, agrees to make an annual contribution to the province in aid of some particular purpose like education, irrigation, sanitation, or police. These contributions are often referred to as doles. In the United Provinces the sums due to the provincial government under these two classes have now mounted up to no less than Rs. 63,22,000, thereby wiping out the Rs. 20,35,000 due from the province and leaving a sum of Rs. 42,87,000 due to the province from the Government of India. On the estimates of the United Provinces this sum is correctly described as 'Transfers between Imperial and Provincial revenues and receipts'. A similar item appears in the estimates of all the other provinces. Even where, as in the United Provinces, the original fixed assignment was a sum due from the province to the Government of India, the accretion of recurring doles from the Government of India has wiped it out and has established a net balance in favour of the province. It would not be necessary to weary the reader with all this detail if it were not that the term 'fixed assignment' has been transferred to the balance which now in every case is in favour of the province. A Resolution of the Government of India, dated May 18, 1912, No. 27-F. speaks of the desirability of converting overgrown fixed assignments into shares of growing revenue'. The so-called 'fixed assignment' grows with every new dole meted out by the Government of India to the provinces. The idea is to reduce this lump sum from time to time and to make a corresponding increase in the provincial share of one of the divided revenues. The settlements cannot, therefore, be regarded as final, and are justly described as quasipermanent. § 12. The money spent on the various departments administered by provincial governments is thus drawn from three sources (1) The whole or a portion of various items of revenue produced within the area of each province. (2) Subsidies from the Government of India calculated to meet the whole or a certain proportion of the cost of certain departments administered by the provincial government. (3) A lump sum, called the fixed assignment. In addition to the money which each province is entitled to expect from these sources there is always the provincial balance, which represents savings from previous years. § 13. In framing his estimates for the coming year the Financial Secretary of the province first submits to the Government of India estimates both of income and expenditure under the various heads. The Government of India then fixes the total expenditure in the first edition of the budget. But the province sends up a second and third or final edition upon which it is entitled to make further representations. The Government of India frequently alters the provincial estimates, especially those of income, before it sanctions them. If the provincial balance is well above a certain prescribed minimum the Financial Secretary for the province may be allowed to budget for expenditure in excess of revenue, the deficit being met from the provincial balance. If, on the other hand, the provincial balance has fallen to a figure dangerously near the minimum prescribed, the Financial Secretary of the province may be ordered to budget for expenditure which is less than revenue, the surplus being used to fortify the provincial balance and raise it above the prescribed minimum regarded as the danger point. The total expenditure having been authorized on these lines the Financial Secretary then sees how much of it can be allotted to each department, and frames his budget accordingly. Except in the case of famine, for which there are special arrangements, his expenditure must be bounded by the revenues specified in the contracts, and brought within a figure prescribed to him each year by the Government of India. The growth of expenditure in a province is limited by the growth of its scheduled revenues. Their expansion may be fostered by administrative wisdom and foresight and by careful collection. Otherwise they cannot be increased and no new taxes can be added except by the Government of India, or with its consent. Finally it must be noted that provincial governments are not permitted to borrow on the open market. Any monies required for capital expenditure must be borrowed from the Government of India. 216 (b) THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED PROVINCES § 14. The provincial governments while differing in details have all been constructed on a common plan. It will be best, therefore, to describe one of them, leaving the reader who desires to pursue the subject farther to discover for himself how far the other provinces differ from the one selected for description. For this purpose we propose to take the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It is true of course that this province is still governed by a single official, and not like one of the older Presidencies by a Governor-inCouncil. This, however, is something of an accident, for a measure has actually been framed and submitted to Parliament for assimilating the Government of the United Provinces to those of the Presidencies. The fact that no council has yet been established in the United Provinces is merely due to the circumstance that the measure in question was blocked by the House of Lords. In passing it is necessary to note that the LieutenantGovernor controls the relations of his province with the native states of Tehri, Rampur, and Benares, for the reason that these states are surrounded by the territories of the province, or in close proximity thereto. The United Provinces has a population of about 48,000,000, the largest of any province in India, larger than that of the British Isles. Socially it is the most central of all the provinces and also the most complex. It is, as Sir Alfred Lyall called it, the heart of India. § 15. In the cold weather the Lieutenant-Governor divides his time between Allahabad and Lucknow, the capital of Oudh, and on tours in his province. In the hot weather he moves with his principal officers to the hill station of Naini Tal. § 16. In matters of revenue the Lieutenant-Governor is assisted by the Board of Revenue. A word of warning must here be uttered for the benefit of the unwary. Our able and scholarly countrymen who rule India relieve the monotony of their lives by devising verbal booby-traps for their visitors. One is the letter 'a'. The moment he enters India, the modern Herodotus puts his foot straight into it. This particular snare was devised by the ingenuity of a great civilian. Sir William Hunter observed that in English the letter 'a' is sometimes pronounced as if it was ur as at the end of Canada. Ignoring the fact that it never has |